Post by Sowelu on Aug 3, 2011 22:15:16 GMT -5
 | The Up and Down of Nonduality By Scott Kiloby |
In nondual teachings, thought often gets villified, almost to the point of being considered a parasite or demon in our human experience. Is this necessary?
When thought is believed to be pointing to separate things, suffering can arise. For example, if I really believe there is an inherent, separate self here that is a victim, all sorts of other thought-stories are likely to get woven into that central belief. And before long, I’m off and running with a million stories that seem to solidify the notion of a separate self that is a victim.
But, in my own experience, as thought is seen to be empty, meaning that it isn’t pointing to inherently separate things at all, the suffering is seen through.
And so, in that sense, there is no separate:
Person
Victim
Country
Religion
American
Iranian
Loser
Winner
CEO
Spiritual seeker
Spiritual teacher
These are things that arise by way of thought only and so, in nondual seeing, they are seen to be like mirages, illusory or dream-like images that tell a story of separation. But that is just it. It’s a story.
Many nondual teachings leave it right there. Everything is a story. Thought is the culprit. Some even say, all there is, is Awareness. Or consciousness. Or presence. They use a single, God-like word that reduces everything to that single knowing or presence. Whatever word is chosen, it encompasses or reduces all things to that one essence. In that kind of nondual talk, thought is often, not always, made into a sort of villain in our lives. Eradicate it and eradicate all suffering, seeking, and conflict in humanity. Or so the story goes . . . .
But that just isn’t my experience. It once was, until I saw that nondual realization doesn't outlaw anything, including personal stories, aesthetics, and human disciplines like science. It doesn't disallow things at all. It just reveals that things arise by thought. They have no separate existence of their own. For example, no matter how long I pontificate on whether there is really a New York "out there" independent of my thoughts, the answer for me is always, "I don't know." I only have experience. And experience is made up of thoughts, emotions, sensations, sights, sounds, and colors, all appearing to awareness. And when those things appear, they certainly reveal a New York in the ordinary sense of the word. But I cannot know a separate New York outside of the experience of the thoughts, emotions, sensations, sights, sounds, and colors that arise to paint it in my experience. I know separate objects only by way of these things, mainly thoughts.
And that IS the point. Nonduality doesn't outlaw things in the conventional sense. Just separate, objective things. "Things existing on their own" independent of these thoughts, emotions, sensations, etc. I never experience those kinds of things. Conventional, as I use that word here, just means that things are only known when thoughts arise.
In seeing through the notion of separate, objective things, the suffering, seeking, and conflict are also seen through. BOOM! That's all that needs to be seen, in my experience. Thought remains. And it isn’t a parasite at all. It isn't a demon or a villain. It only seems like an enemy when there is a belief that thought is pointing to separate, objective things.
When that belief is seen through, lots of storytelling may disappear, especially the long, arduous story of self. There may be a quieting around that kind of storytelling.
Yet thought remains fully functional and available for conventional purposes like communication. "Awareness is here, but it isn't blind," as Greg Goode once said.
One thing that often lacks in nondual culture is this diverse play of life with all the things in it. Things like art, music, culture, creativity, geography, dance, Monopoly, relationships, sitcoms, satire, funny stuff, human stuff, stories. I’m not saying that all nondual teachings get this dry, where they wash out lots of interesting stuff like this. But it is quite common.
So the question is this: Is there a way have an authentic nondual knowing, without this washing out of the diversity of experience and conventional existence?
Yes is the answer.
Many, when they first come to the nondual path, are only interested in seeing thought as illusory, in seeing that it is all One. But if one sticks around, the interest very much changes. Once you have seen through separation, there is nothing more to see in that area. It's done. Oneness. So the question is, "now what?" And the answer, for me, is life is what comes next. And life is full of all sorts of awesome stuff, stories, everything. Yet the suffering, seeking, and conflict that came with the belief in separation is gone, gone, gone.
The great traditions often spoke of this multi-seeing: Zen’s return to the marketplace, Madhyamaka’s inclusion of conventional existence, and Advaita’s “Brahman is the World.”
I call this seeing the "up" and "down" of nonduality. During the up adventure, the interest is only in seeing beyond the veil of duality, seeing through the belief in separation. It's all about Oneness. Reducing or seeing everything as a kind of one essence, whether we call it awareness, presence, or consciousness.
But once that is seen, it's a "down" adventure. It is about including the whole of life, which means all the stories, the human stuff, the diversity, the me, the you, the us, the relationships, all of it. And for that, you need thought (albeit without the belief in separation).
We get to have our cake and eat it too. That's the up and down.
If you are really interested in the deepest liberation, would you want to settle for anything less than the complete seeing through of all separation along with the inclusion of this wonderful gift of diversity? Why throw out the baby with the bathwater? Why throw out the content with the realization of consciousness? Why throw out the appearances with the realization of awareness?
Found here
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Copyright © 2011 Scott Kiloby
kiloby.com/
Copyright © 2011 Scott Kiloby
kiloby.com/
